Thursday, December 22, 2011

Simon Dale has built the cutest hobbit house for his family. Amazingly, the whole project only cost him about $4,800 Canadian.
Dale took on the project to see how well he could do following the principles of sustainability. This house is dug into a hillside on the country and so it blends in with its surroundings.
He used stone, wood and straw bails to build, cutting down 30 small trees to create the home's skeleton. It has a sod roof with solar panels to power the computers and other gadgets. A fireplace heats the space.
Verrry cool.
You can read more about how the project took shape and see more of his wonderful photos on Dale's web site.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Talk about your real estate porn! An Australian real estate agent put together the above video as part of his marketing campaign for a luxury home on Australia's Gold Coast.

The bottom (ahem!) has fallen out of the luxury market Down Under as it has in many parts of the world. This black and white teaser is designed to make wold-be buyers um prick up their ears, I guess. Nice house, but dude you really should put a towel down before you lift weights.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

It seems that Parti Québecois leader Pauline Marois has managed to unload her estate in the wilds of Ile Bizard. The 1.7 million-square-foot property known has La Closerie had been on the market since July, 2009.
The property was listed on the MLS for much of that time, though the last listing expired in December a year ago at $8 million. Chateau Marois is currently listed with Sotheby's Quebec, despite the presence of an offending apostrophe in the company name, Perhaps Mme. Marois chose to overlook that little linguistic transgression in the interest of a speedy sale.
The listing is now at $6.98 million. I guess it was priced to move, what with a provincial election looming in the not too distant future and Marois consistently placing a distant third in opinion polls. Hard to position yourself as Quebec's social democratic alternative to the corrupt Liberals and the right-wing arriviste Coaliton pour L'avenir du Québec when the school and property taxes on the house you own are more than what the average Quebec receptionist earns in a year. ($36,009 vs $34,919.)
Do you suppose she's now scoping out a little bungalow in Répentigny?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Montreal home sales rose by three per cent in October, the sixth straight month of sales increase in the metropolitan area.
The big news is that sales topped the $1-billion mark, a notable accomplishment in a market where the average price of a single-family home is in the range of $270,000 and the average condo just under $227,000.
Price hikes were seen in most parts of Greater Montreal, with the exception of the South Shore, where sales were flat and the nunber of active listings rose by 21 per cent.
For the record, only a modest part of that $1 billion ended up in my mink-lined pocket last month.

Putting the Real in Real Estate

I am a real estate broker with Century 21 Vision in Montreal. I work all over the island but, between you and me, I think Verdun is the city's best neighborhood.
A onetime newspaper reporter and real estate columnist, I like to connect with people through the written word.
I support Habitat for Humanity Montreal: www.habitatmontreal.qc.ca, Bell'Anima Rescue (bellanima.rescueme.org) and Gerdy's Rescue (gerdysrescue.org)
I would be pleased to offer you a free property evaluation.
You can reach me at (514) 978-6522
Got a hot tip about a cool house or an undiscovered part of Montreal? Drop me a line!